Mali’s defence minister died after an attack on his house on Saturday, his family said, as the army fought a second day of battles with jihadist fighters and separatist rebels near the capital Bamako and other cities.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, his second wife, and two of his grandchildren died after a car bomb attack on his home in the junta stronghold of Kita, outside Bamako, his family and an official said.
The shock attacks, synchronised by Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front coalition and the jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, targeted several areas in the vast arid country. Fighting resumed on Sunday in several areas, including Kita near Bamako, Kidal, Gao, and Severe.
Tuareg rebels announced an agreement allowing Russian forces backing Mali’s army to withdraw from the northern city of Kidal, which they claimed was “totally” under their control.
“An accord has been reached permitting the army and its Russian Africa Corps allies to leave the camp where they were holed up since yesterday,” a Tuareg official told AFP. Residents confirmed seeing a military convoy leave the area.
Mali has been ravaged for more than a decade by conflict and jihadist violence, but Saturday’s attacks were the worst since 2020, when the junta seized power. The fighting left 16 civilians and soldiers wounded and caused limited material damage, the government said, adding that the situation was totally under control in all localities attacked.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres condemned the “acts of violence” in Mali and called for coordinated international support to address the evolving threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Sahel. The European Union also condemned the “terrorist attacks.”
Mali’s rulers, like their military counterparts in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, have severed ties with former colonial ruler France and several Western countries, moving closer to Russia, whose Africa Corps has taken over from the mercenary Wagner group in helping Malian forces fight jihadists.
